Tri Bike Time!

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I have officially ridden my Cervelo more times in October then any other month this season! After doing the annual drive-train swap from the older, trainer used parts to the new, race ready components I have gotten two good rides in. Yesterday, an easy cruise around the neighborhood just to shake things out and make sure the shifting was dialed. And it was good - Nick helped with (did a lot of) the deraillur adjustments for the new cassette and I had no issues. Good power up the hills, with crisp shifting from the 53 to the 39, even under a little strain. A few things needed tightening - still haven't gotten the wrench skills down to get things tight enough. But other then that...

So today, I went for a longer, harder and hillier ride. I am a little concerned that not riding the tri bike all year will affect the race at Silverman, espcially with my ability to stay in aero for most of the ride. There might be big, steep and long hills at Silverman, but there is also plenty of time where riding in aero will buy time. That is going to be my challenge in the next 35 days - making sure that my back will tolerate five hours on the tri bike. I only did 2.25 hours today, hit a lot of the hills on the west side of Colorado Springs, but had no issues. Back was fine, power was good both in aero and on the cowhorns. Granted, with the climbing and the traffic, I wasn't in the aerobars for as long as I would have been in a race situation. I still think that's a good sign. But I won't have too many more oppertunities for a long ride - leaving this week to finish the marathon quest!

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